Injured on the Job
by sbartist357
Summary: After Private gets hurt during night recon duty, Skipper devises a plan to get even with the animal that caused it.
1. Returning from Recon

**Hey, everyone! I'm back (confetti flies everywhere)! :D I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and new year! Thank you to everyone who reviewed/followed/favorited me and/or my stories during the course of my break! I really appreciate it! ^v^ Anyways, to ease me back into Fanfiction, here's a three-part story for your reading pleasure. Enjoy the first chapter!**

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It was late at night. Skipper, Rico, and Kowalski were peacefully sleeping in their bunks, and everything was quiet. Just then, the sound of the fish bowl sliding across the concrete ice floe broke the silence. However, it was pushed slowly to the side, as to not disturb the others. Private climbed down the ladder, holding a pair of binoculars; he was returning from night recon duty. The penguin looked at his slumbering teammates, then tiptoed as quietly as possible to the table, shooting quick glances toward the bunks with every step he took. Normally, he wouldn't be so overly cautious but, on this particular night, he didn't want to wake any of them, especially Skipper. He knew the leader would be upset if-

Just as Private approached the table, he lost his grip on the binoculars, and they landed on the floor with a clatter. He flinched and closed his eyes, waiting for someone to awaken; all he heard was Rico's snoring and Kowalski turn over in his bunk. Private opened his eyes and sighed with relief. That was close. He bent down to pick up the binoculars.

"Private?" The young penguin stiffened. Shoot. Skipper was a light sleeper, and the small noise Private made had apparently woken him up. The young penguin grabbed the binoculars and placed them on the table, looking at Skipper through the corner of his eye.

"Oh. Hi, Skippah. I didn't mean to wake you up." He whispered, not turning to face him. Private hoped that Skipper would go back to sleep. He received no such luck. The leader propped himself up on one flipper and stared at his youngest cadet with an arched eyebrow. Why was he turned away from him? Private wasn't very shy; in fact, he was quite the opposite. Skipper got up and approached the younger penguin.

"Private? Are you okay?" He asked, placing his flipper on the boy's shoulder. Private nodded, still not looking at him directly.

"I'm fine, Skippah." He mumbled. Skipper was only able to see the left side of his face. The leader's brow furrowed: Private was hiding something. He gently grabbed Private by his shoulders and started to turn him so that he could see him face-to-face.

"Private, let me see your face." The young penguin tried to resist.

"Please, Skippah, don't-" A silent gasp escaped from the leader's beak as he saw Private's face entirely. In the dim, bluish-green light, Skipper noticed what the young penguin had been trying to hide:

A black eye.

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 **Oh, no! D: How did Private get injured? What will happen next?**


	2. Explanations and Planning

**Welcome to the second chapter! :D Thank you to everyone who followed and favorited this story so far! It means a lot to me! Also, huge thanks to Penguins005, demiajaie, and IWriteSinsNoTragedies for reviewing! I've replied below! :)**

 **Penguins005: Thank you! I'm glad you like it so far! :) Keep reading to find out what happened!**

 **demiajaie: Yay, indeed! XD Aww, thanks! It's great to be back!**

 **IWriteSinsNoTragedies: Yep, that's absolutely right. One does not simply hide things from Skipper. ;) Thanks! Yeah, I love writing for this fandom and I don't plan on stopping anytime soon! Hmm, that is an intriguing question. . . Ooh, that would be such a plot twist! XD Well, keep reading to find out!**

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"Private, what happened?" Skipper asked, gently touching Private's face and studying his black eye more closely. It was severely swollen, so much so that it could hardly open at all; the entire eyelid was a deep purple. The leader also noticed that the feathers underneath both his eyes were wet; apparently, he had been crying. Private blinked and winced in pain, causing his black eye to water again.

"I don't want to talk about it." He murmured. Actually, he did want to talk about it, just not with Skipper. The leader frowned.

"It would be best if you got it off your chest now instead of waiting until morning." He said softly. Private, figuring he had no choice, sighed in defeat.

"Okay." Skipper lead him into Kowalski's lab and closed the door behind them. Private took a seat at one of the tables and Skipper sat next to him.

"Alright, Private, tell me what happened." The young penguin took a deep breath.

"Well, I was doing recon duty on the clock tower. Everything was normal. A short while before I was supposed to head back, I saw something. I decided to follow it and see what it was. I chased it all through the zoo. Finally, whatever it was disappeared over a wall, and I jumped over to see where it went." He paused.

"What happened then?" Skipper asked.

"I wound up in Joey's habitat. I tried to leave, but he had already seen me. He didn't even give me time to utter an apology." Private gingerly touched his right eye with his flipper and flinched.

Skipper frowned. Joey, the zoo's ill-tempered kangaroo, had done this to Private. He remembered the time he had wound up in his pen with Julien; it was not a pleasant experience, to say the least. He was surprised that the young penguin only received a black eye from the unfortunate encounter. The leader was snapped out of his thoughts by the sound of sniffling: Private was sobbing. Skipper glanced at him for a moment, unsure of what to do. He finally decided on giving the young penguin a hug. Private cried a little harder, burying the left side of his face into the leader's soft feathers.

"It's okay, Private. Let it out." Skipper said, rubbing his back comfortingly. After a few minutes, Private's crying subsided and Skipper let go of him. The young penguin wiped tears away from his good eye.

"Feeling a little better?" Skipper inquired. Private nodded silently. The leader stood up.

"Let's get you an ice pack for that eye, then we'll go to bed, okay? We'll talk more about this in the morning."

"Okay." The penguins exited Kowalski's lab. Skipper went over to the bunks, climbed up to the third one, and gave Rico a gentle slap on the stomach. An ice pack popped out of the mohawked penguin's beak, and Skipper caught it with his flipper. He climbed back down and gave it to Private, who gratefully took it and applied it to his wound. Although it hurt at first, the ice pack eventually started to numb the pain, and Private relaxed.

"Thank you, Skippah." The leader smiled.

"You're welcome. Now, let's hit the bunks; it's late." They went to their respective beds and went to sleep.

 _ **The Next Morning**_ _ **(a.k.a. Several Hours Later). . .**_

"Private. . ." Skipper said, nudging the youngest penguin. "Wake up." Private stirred and slowly opened his eyes (well, his left eye). He yawned and stretched. It took him a minute to realize that Skipper had woken him up without yelling like he normally would. Private sat up and stared at Skipper; he didn't look angry at all. Behind him, Private could see Kowalski and Rico were already sitting at the table.

"What time is it?"

"It's seven-thirty." Skipper replied. Private frowned.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Skippah! I didn't mean to oversleep." Skipper smiled.

"It's okay, Private. I let you sleep in a little; I figured you needed it." The young penguin sighed with relief. So that's why Skipper wasn't mad at him for oversleeping. Private slipped out of his bunk, leaving the ice pack on the pillow.

"How's your eye, Private?" Kowalski inquired. Private tenderly touched it with his flipper; it still hurt, but not as much as it did before.

"It's feeling a little better, thank you." Skipper wrapped his flipper around him.

"Come on, Private. We're going to discuss what happened." He brought Private over to the table and they both sat down. Rico coughed up a small can of sardines and slid it over to him.

"FISH!" He mumbled. Private smiled, opened the can, and started eating.

"Thanks, Rico."

"Yep!"

"So, Joey hit you?" Kowalski asked. Private nodded.

"Ouch," Rico grumbled.

"You're lucky it's only a black eye - it could've been a lot worse."

"I know." The young penguin replied; he shuddered to think of what could've happened if he hadn't escaped the habitat when he did. There was an uncomfortable silence. Skipper sat silently in his seat with his flippers crossed and a stern expression on his face; he was apparently lost in thought. The other penguins looked at him.

"Skipper?" Kowalski asked. The leader took a deep breath but didn't look up at him.

"Hmm?"

"What are you thinking about?"

"That kangaroo needs to be taught a lesson," Skipper said, staring his second-in-command square in the eyes. "And I'm going to teach it to him." Private gasped.

"Skippah, no! What happened last night was my fault! I don't want you to get hurt because of what I did!"

"Private, all you did was pursue a possible intruder in order to keep the zoo safe. You were completely in the right; it's Joey who's at fault." Kowalski placed his flippers on the table.

"Skipper, I agree with Private. Even if it is Joey's fault, going into his habitat by yourself and picking a fight with him is not going to do anything!"

"Who says I'm going there by myself? You guys are coming with me." Kowalski sighed.

"Okay, I sit corrected. Even if it is Joey's fault, going into his habitat WITH US and picking a fight with him is not going to do anything!"

"Kowalski, Joey picked a fight with us, not the other way around. Besides, I'm not throwing us into that situation without a plan." Rico hacked up an unlit stick of dynamite.

"Kaboom?"

"No, Rico, I'm not planning on blowing him up."

"Aww. . ." The mohawked penguin swallowed the TNT.

"What is your plan, then?" Kowalski questioned.

"I'm glad you asked, Kowalski. . ." Skipper said, rubbing his flippers in anticipation.

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 **So, that's why Private didn't want to tell Skipper what happened. What is Skipper's plan? Not** **only that, will it work? Or will the whole team wind up with black eyes? :O**


	3. Commence Operation: Payback

**Hey again! :D Welcome to the last part of the story! I'm glad you've all been enjoying it so far! :) Thank you, Penguins005 and IWriteSinsNoTragedies for sending me feedback on the previous chapter! I've replied below!**

 **Penguins005: Yep, that's exactly right. :) Keep reading!**

 **IWriteSinsNoTragedies: Uh-huh, it was Joey. Yes, it shall be very interesting indeed. ;) True; let's hope this plan works better than that one! XD**

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After Private finished the can of sardines Rico gave him, the penguins made their way to Joey's habitat. The walk over there was mostly quiet, with the exception of Skipper talking to Kowalski; Private was too occupied with his own thoughts to hear what they were saying. As much as he appreciated what Skipper was doing, he still didn't want it to happen. Private was totally willing to let the incident go; Joey was always ill-tempered, and he highly doubted that this plan was going to change anything.

After Skipper gave Kowalski some last-minute details on the plan, he became lost in his own thoughts. He knew Private wasn't into the idea, but this had to be done. Skipper told Private that this wasn't just for him, but to get even for the time he himself had wound up in the angry marsupial's enclosure with Julien a while back. However, that wasn't the only reason. The truth was, Skipper was furious that Joey would even raise a hand toward Private; the penguin was one of the sweetest and most caring animals at the zoo. How could he just hit him without a second thought? Skipper wouldn't be surprised if Joey would do the same to Mort if he accidentally wound up in his habitat.

The penguins finally made it to the brick wall that surrounded Joey's enclosure. Skipper gestured for Kowalski and Rico to get in position before turning to face Private.

"Private, you don't have to watch this if you don't want to, okay?" The young penguin gave him a little smile.

"Thank you, Skippah."

"You're welcome, Private." Skipper started walking toward the habitat wall but turned around. "I'll call you when it's over, alright?" Private nodded.

"Okay." The leader then flipped over the wall and out of sight. Private went to sit under a nearby bench and waited.

Skipper stood just inside the boundary of the Aussie's habitat. He looked over to the side wall, where Kowalski and Rico were waiting. They nodded to let him know they were ready. Skipper took a deep breath - here goes.

"Joey!" He called. Almost instantly, Skipper saw the kangaroo bounding over to him, looking angry as usual.

"Oi! What are you doing in my habitat?" He growled. Skipper crossed his flippers and decided to get right to the point.

"You injured one of my comrades last night."

"That's it? You come into my habitat just to tell me that? You've got a lot of gall to do that, mate." Joey retorted. "What's it to you, anyway? I hit the runt, not you." Inside, Skipper was seething at the kangaroo's words, but he managed to keep his cool front.

"I take it personally, marsupial. You mess with one of my men, you mess with me, comprende?" The kangaroo nodded.

"Sure, I comprende. Now get ready for a whoopin', bird."

"Don't you think you should be fighting with someone your own size?" Skipper challenged. Joey scoffed in disbelief.

"Are you serious? Joey fights with whoever dares step into his habitat, including you! Take this!" The marsupial reared up on his tail and prepared to kick Skipper into next week, but the penguin had something else in mind. He did a backflip, landed on his feet several feet away, and pointed to his second-in-command.

"Kowalski!" Suddenly, a green-colored ray shot through the air and hit the kangaroo.

"What the-?" Before Joey knew it, he was staring Skipper face-to-face: He had shrunk! The penguin was looking at him with a sly expression.

"Oi! What happened?" His voice sounded significantly higher than usual.

"Well, I said you should fight someone your own size; now we're both the same size." Skipper said, getting into a combat stance. "Come at me." Joey sneered.

"With pleasure." He hopped over to the penguin.

The fight didn't last ten seconds. As soon as Joey approached him, Skipper swept his feet out from under him and piledrove him into the ground; even Kowalski and Rico were stunned. The leader was now standing on top of Joey, holding the kangaroo's arm firmly behind his back; Joey had his eyes shut from the pain.

"Alright, alright! I give! Just let go of me!"

"Not yet; there's still some unfinished business."

"What?"

"You owe an apology to Private."

"Okay." Skipper let go of Joey's arm and stepped off him. The kangaroo slowly got back on his feet and dusted himself off. The leader turned toward the boundary of the enclosure.

"Private!" The small penguin appeared on top of the wall.

"Yes, Skippah?"

"Joey has something to say to you." He gestured to the kangaroo, who looked humiliated.

". . . I'm sorry for hitting you, mate." Private gave him one of his good-natured smiles.

"It's okay." Joey seemed a bit surprised at the penguin's immediate forgiveness.

"No hard feelings?" He questioned. Private shook his head.

"No hard feelings." He hopped down into the habitat, approached Joey, and held out his flipper for him to shake. The kangaroo took it and they shook appendages. Skipper patted Private's back.

"Private, go ahead and wait with the others; I'll be there in a minute."

"Okay, Skippah." The young penguin waddled off to join Kowalski and Rico. Joey stared at him for a moment before turning to Skipper.

"I feel pretty low, now. . ." He mumbled. "The kid didn't even hold a grudge." Skipper grinned.

"That's the way he is." He shrugged. "Sweet, young, and forgiving."

"I guess I owe you an apology, too, for that other time," Joey said, scratching the back of his head awkwardly. "Sorry." Skipper waved his flipper.

"It's okay. Just know that if we're in your habitat, we're there for a reason, and it's not to get all in your business."

"Sure, alright. You guys can come into my habitat whenever you need to." Joey and Skipper shook appendages. "Just don't go saying it to everyone else; Joey's got a reputation to maintain." He added with a wink. Skipper nodded.

"Your secret's safe with me." He gave the kangaroo a quick salute and went to join his teammates. Joey called after him.

"Wait a second, mate! What about my size?" Skipper turned back around.

"Oh, right. Kowalski. . ." The tall penguin nodded.

"I'm on it." He zapped Joey back to his normal size.

"Thanks."

"No problem." The penguins waved goodbye to Joey and jumped down from the wall. As the team waddled back to their habitat, Kowalski spoke up.

"How did you manage to defeat Joey so quickly? He went down in just 3.42 seconds!" Rico nodded.

"Yeah!" Skipper smiled at them.

"Remember that move Officer X used on him? Well, I just did the same thing."

"I was wondering why it seemed so familiar. . ." Kowalski murmured, tapping his beak in thought. Skipper nodded in response, then glanced over at the clock tower, which read 7:45.

"Well, it's still early, which means we have plenty of time for morning training." He announced. "Now, who wants to learn what I call the Officer X smackdown?"

 _ **The End**_

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 **Well, there you have it. Everything worked out okay! :D I hope everybody enjoyed the ending! If you haven't done so already, be sure to favorite and/or review the story if you liked it! About the references, the previous encounter Skipper had with Joey was "Assault and Batteries", and the move Skipper used on Joey was from "Cat's Cradle".**

 **As for my next story, I'm currently writing it up but, since college is taking up most of my time, it'll be a while before I can finish it and post it for your awaiting eyes. :/ I hope to get it done by the end of the semester (a.k.a. May), but I can't guarantee anything. I'm really sorry about that! ^^; I much rather take my time writing a story than rushing through it (after all, quality vs. quantity). I'll update my profile as things develop, so don't forget to bookmark it for the latest news! Just remember that I will certainly come back (so don't feel too bad)! ;) Until I do, feel free to re-read my stories and check out the ones on my favorites list! As always, thank you all for your continued support! See you later! :)**


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